Several types of packaging apparatuses and methods are known in the art for packing items in a container, for example by transferring the items from a carrier, such as a conveyor, to the container using automated manipulator assemblies including and without being limitative robotic manipulator assemblies and dedicated automated manipulator assemblies, which are configured and designed to grasp and move items with a number of degrees of freedom. Dedicated automated manipulator assemblies are conceived for a predetermined application and may be difficult to modify if the application changes. They include a combination of mobile components, such as and without being limitative, slidable, rotatable, translatable, jointed, and/or pivotable components, that are combined in accordance with the task to be performed and cooperate to manipulate items. For instance and without being limitative, they can include servo-motors, conveyors, pushers, rotatable platforms, and the like. Robotic manipulator assemblies, i.e. assemblies including a robot with a robot arm, are easier to modify if the application changes, however, known robotic manipulator assemblies tend to suffer from several drawbacks.
For example, parallel robots have two to four degrees of freedom and allow the items to be picked from the carrier and to be subsequently, displaced and/or rotated to modify a direction of the item to be inserted into a corresponding container. Parallel robots operate rapidly and can regroup a large quantity of items in a short period of times. However, such robotic manipulator assemblies offer a limited control over the positioning of the items inside the container, as the items can be displaced along the axes X, Y and/or Z and only rotated about one axis to change a direction thereof, while remaining substantially oriented according to the same plane to which they are carried on the carrier. Therefore, such apparatuses can only be used in systems requiring low agility, i.e. where the orientation of the items inside the container is substantially similar to the orientation of the items on the carrier.
However, in many cases, orientation of the items in the container is an important aspect of the packaging process. For example and without being limitative, modification of the orientation of the items may be required for packaging of the items in the container in a “display ready” configuration. In such a configuration, the items are disposed in the container such as to allow direct display of the items in stores, simply by removing a predefined section of the container. Indeed, the original positioning of the items in the container is such that, once the predefined section of the container has been removed, the items are already advantageously displayed, without requiring further placement of the items by a clerk.
Serial (or articulated) robots which can further perform a change in the orientation of the items are also known. Such robotic manipulator assemblies commonly have up to six degrees of freedom and allow the items to be picked from the carrier and to be subsequently, displaced and rotated to modify their direction and/or orientation to be inserted into a corresponding container. Serial manipulators therefore allow the items to be oriented inside the corresponding container according to a predetermined configuration, which can differ from the orientation of the items on the carrier. However, serial manipulators tend to be slower in operation and require a greater amount of time for picking each item and inserting the item in the corresponding container, which may slow down the packaging process.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved apparatus and a method for grouping and positioning items which would be able to overcome or at least minimize some of the above-discussed prior art concern.